Demonstration at Ooredoo headquarters used 5G-ready Nokia AirScale radio platform

Ooredoo will introduce 1 Gbps speeds for customers using the award-winning Ooredoo Supernet in early 2017, with the network already supporting close to 500 Mbps today

Nokia AirScale radio will enable 1Gbps upgrade

14 December 2016

Doha, Qatar - Nokia and Ooredoo Qatar have achieved speeds of up to 1 Gbps in a demonstration application of 4.5G Pro technology using Nokia's three-carrier aggregation technique, 256 QAM (Quadrature Amplitude Modulation) and 4x4 Multiple Input and Multiple Output (MIMO) with Nokia's 5G-ready AirScale radio platform. The demonstration took place in Ooredoo's headquarters, HQ2, in Doha. The milestone heralds the commercial launch, early next year, of 1 Gbps speed for Cat. 16* (category 16) capable devices, making the 'Best Operator Network' in the Middle East even faster and better equipped to meet surging consumer data demand. Currently, the network provides speeds close to 500 Mbps with three-carrier aggregation and 256 QAM.

Applying the key techniques of multi-band carrier aggregation, higher order modulation and higher MIMO, Nokia has enabled Ooredoo to maximize user data rates and network capacity on its existing base station sites and spectrum allocations. On the Ooredoo Supernet, Ooredoo has already enhanced three-carrier carrier aggregation with 256 QAM to deliver data rates close to 500 Mbps for Cat. 11 user devices.

With speed driving many innovations in telecommunications, Ooredoo Qatar has been densifying, upgrading, and optimizing its network under the Supernet initiative to provide ultra-high speed services and superior customer experience to its subscribers nationwide. The successful joint demonstration of 4.5G Pro technology by Ooredoo and Nokia is part of this initiative.

Nokia has been innovating to achieve higher and higher speeds, announcing 4.5G Pro and 4.9G in September as part of a technology path to 5G, enabling leading operators such as Ooredoo Qatar to take advantage of major increases in speed and capacity where and when they need it using these technologies.

Waleed Al Sayed, Chief Executive Officer, Ooredoo Qatar, said: "We launched the Ooredoo Supernet initiative to provide the best possible broadband experience for our customers, and we live up to our commitments. Our long-term strategic partner, Nokia, is supporting Ooredoo Qatar with its innovative solutions to enable higher speeds and superior performance on our 3G, 4G and 4.5G Pro networks. The current joint achievement is a milestone, and puts us on the evolutionary path toward launching 5G networks in the future."

Bernard Najm, head of the Middle East Market Unit at Nokia, said: "We are committed to supporting the Ooredoo Supernet initiative with our latest technology innovations. Use of three-carrier component aggregation with 4x4 MIMO and 256 QAM is the perfect solution for Ooredoo as it looks to optimize the network performance with the available spectrum. This year Ooredoo Qatar and Nokia already commercially launched Cat 11 with speeds close to 500 Mbps, and through this current demonstration, we are preparing the network to launch up to 1 Gbps speed."

Overview of the demo solutions:

Three carrier aggregation technology (3x CA)

4X4 MIMO technology for doubling the download speed

256 QAM is a higher order modulation scheme, introduced in December 2014 in the LTE-Advanced specifications of 3GPP Rel. 12. Compared to 64 QAM, it allows an increase in peak data rates of up to 30%.

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About Ooredoo

Ooredoo is Qatar's leading communications company, delivering mobile, fixed, broadband internet and corporate managed services tailored to the needs of consumers and businesses. As a community-focused company, Ooredoo is guided by its vision of enriching people's lives and its belief that it can stimulate human growth by leveraging communications to help people achieve their full potential.